


Death In A Dreamscape

by kedavranox



Series: Death's Dream Kingdom [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Night Terrors, OTP Feels, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 15:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14428302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kedavranox/pseuds/kedavranox
Summary: It’s so dark beneath the sand. There is no sun, no light. No canvas. Nothing left for him to paint. No clay he can mold between his fingers. No warm body next to his. No heartbeat fluttering wildly in his hands.





	Death In A Dreamscape

**Author's Note:**

> This little drabble is part of the ["Death's Dream Kingdom" ](https://archiveofourown.org/series/45054)Series. It occurs before ["In Death's Dream Kingdom" ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/832316), and [A Rose In The Garden](https://archiveofourown.org/works/803341)  
> ~Nox

 

In the dream, Harry is drowning. Not in water, but in sand.

It compresses his ribs, filters into his lungs, sends grainy nodules of pain down the tender, sensitive flesh of his throat. It clogs his nostrils and scratches his lips. All he wants to do is breathe ( _why can’t he ever breathe?)_  Everything presses in around him and the sand turns to liquid, turns to dark paint that slithers in between his fingertips and onto a blank canvas where it rots like his lungs. They disintegrate into a putrid mess, a blob of death and—

_breathe, Harry. just breathe._

—why can’t he breathe? It burns. Everything burns. His skin is too tight, he kicks his legs viciously, he needs to break the surface of the sand, but something holds onto him. Something warm and… safe?

Is anything safe down here?

_Breathe, Harry. I’ve got you. You’ve got to wake up now._

It’s so dark beneath the sand. There is no sun, no light. No canvas. Nothing left for him to paint. No clay he can mold between his fingers. No warm body next to his. No heartbeat fluttering wildly in his hands.

_Harry, please. Come on. Take a breath. I’ve got you. Harry. I’ve got you._

That’s Draco’s voice. Draco’s breath against his face. Draco’s favourite sheets wrapped around his shoulders in the cocoon he likes to bury himself in at night— _buried in sand? Oh fuck is Draco drowning, too?_ —his hair is a messy pile on his head and his eyes are wide with fright-worry-concern- _fear_. For Harry?

“Harry, please,” Draco is murmuring softly, his arms wrapped around Harry’s waist. “Come back. Nothing is going to hurt you here, don’t you understand? _It’s me._ ”

It’s who?

Harry closes his eyes. Why can’t he _breathe?_ Everything is closing in and Voldemort’s hand is still at throat and _why won’t he leave me alone? why won’t he let me breathe?_

“Harry. Baby. Open your eyes.”

He opens his eyes. Draco lies across from him, cupping Harry’s face in his hands. “I need you to breathe. _Breathe_. Harry, please.”

He takes a sudden loud breath that rattles his lungs and makes him cough, and then he takes another, and then another, his body shakes with relief.

Some of the tension bleeds from Draco’s eyes. “Yes, love. Just like that. Breathe, Harry I’ve got you. I’m not letting go. You know where we go from here. We count backwards from 1000. Do it with me. Okay?  1000, 999 , 998…”

Harry repeats the useless numbers, staring into pewter gray eyes holding tightly into Draco’s strong forearm where it rests against his shoulder. He’s in bed now. Bed. In their bedroom. In their home. Not under water. Not under sand. Not dying. Not dead. Not hunted and chased or cut or cursed or hated or...

The count reaches 850 and finally, Harry can breathe enough to say his name.

“Draco?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Draco says, his usually steady and calm voice cracking clean in two. “Yes, Harry. It’s me.”

After a moment of confusion, then relief, Harry slides across their silken sheets, and straight into Draco’s waiting arms. His wraps himself around Draco’s lean, lithe body, tangles their legs together, breathes deep breaths, grounds himself with the feel of Draco’s hands in his hair, Draco’s fingertips ghosting along Harry’s sides, the pleasant vibrations in his chest from Draco’s softly murmuring voice. Harry takes a few more deep breaths, syncs his pulse with Draco’s before his body begins to shake with the aftermath.  

“I was drowning,” Harry whispers. Draco’s hands still their soothing strokes, and a tear slides down Harry’s cheek. He swallows down a heavy lump in his throat. It feels so much like drowning.

“You’re with me,” Draco says, beginning the slow slide of his palms against Harry’s skin again. “You’ll never drown with me.”

Harry pulls away and rests his forehead against Draco’s as he wipes one tear sainted cheek with the back of his palm. “God, Draco. I’m so sorry”

“Don’t apologise.”

“I can’t keep doing this to you. You have a case. You need your rest. Maybe we should sleep in separate—”

Draco’s hold on him tightens. “Don’t you even think about it, Potter. You sleep with me. Always. Got it?”

Harry takes another weak and shaky breath. “Got it.”

Draco licks his lips, and hesitates, drawing slow circles with his fingertips at the base of Harry’s spine. “What took you so long to come back this time?”

“I don’t know. I was lost in the dream.” Harry’s breaths quicken again. “I was so afraid.”

“Okay. Okay. Let’s not talk about it now.” Draco kisses his eyebrows. His cheek. His mouth. The tip of his nose. He buries his fingers in Harry’s hair. “Just keep breathing with me,” he murmurs.

Harry holds Draco close again, so afraid of being lost. “Remind me, Draco. Tell me who I am here. Who am I, really?”

Draco takes a shuddering breath of his own, and when he speaks, his voice is heavy and thick. “You’re Harry Potter. You’re my husband. You’re the fucking love of my life. And you’re not going anywhere.” Draco’s hands tighten in his hair. “Got it?”

Harry closes his eyes. Nods.

“Got it.”

  
  
_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](http://kedavranox.tumblr.com)! ❤


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